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Last Minute Halloween Pumpkin Centerpiece

I discovered a unique, but speedy, idea for a Halloween centerpiece or decoration.

An easy Halloween pumpkin made with a roll of toilet paper and a square of fabric.

I was going through some Halloween stuff that used to belong to my hubby's grandma, and came across a cute little pumpkin. I set it aside, thinking I'd use it to decorate the kitchen table, and started decorating the yard. While I was busy at work, one of my toddlers found the pumpkin, and took it upon herself to dismantle it.

I was surprised to find that the pumpkin was actually nothing more than a roll of toilet paper wrapped in fabric! I thought it was a neat idea, especially if you needed a last minute decoration. Even if you didn't have any orange fabric on hand, I think other colors would work, and maybe even tissue paper could be substituted.

All you need is:

1 roll of toilet paper
An approximately 18" inch square of fabric
A small brown paper bag, or other brown or green piece of paper
Optional decorative leaves--leaves from outside would probably even work

You just set the roll of toilet paper on the center of the fabric, and tuck each corner into the middle of the toilet paper tube. Then, you roll up the brown paper bag to make a stem, and stick it in the hole, along with leaves for extra embellishment.

The pumpkin takes maybe 15 minutes to put together, and once Halloween is over, you can put the toilet paper back in the bathroom, and save the fabric and stem for another use, or even for Halloween next year.

To avoid clogging and bad odors, sink and tub drains should be periodically cleaned.

A once a month cleaning with a non-toxic, homemade cleaner prevents needing a stronger, usually sodium hydroxide (lye) based, cleaner to remove clogs. Sodium hydroxide is extremely caustic, and will damage the lungs if inhaled, burn skin and eyes, and can be fatal if swallowed. In addition, the heat generated by using sodium hydroxide can soften PVC pipes, and damage old, corroded pipes. It also changes the pH of water and can cause fish kills.

A much nicer alternative to this harsh chemical is the simple combination of baking soda and vinegar, followed with boiling water. When baking soda and vinegar are combined, they foam and expand, cleaning the sides of your pipes and dissolving fatty acids. The boiling water then washes it all away. This method is a great way to use up the box of baking soda in your frig that is not longer doing a good job of deodorizing.

Every little thing you do helps and the small things really do add up. Which is why I have a somewhat creepy tub of soap scraps in my bathroom.

I admit, it seems a little weird to save soap scraps, but it wasn't always this way. In fact, they used to have little contraptions for saving your soap scraps.

But those days are gone. Or are they?

I think frugality is making a comeback--at least, it is around here, because I save all our soap scraps. What do I do with them?

Recycled Soap Scrap Bars

If you are regular users of bar soap, a family of four can easily manage to get six additional bars of soap per year by saving soap scraps. It doesn't seem like much, so I'll write it this way instead: in ten years, that would be 60 bars of "free" soap. There, that seems more impressive.

Ingredients:
Soap scraps
Water
Herbs (optional)

1. Grate or finely chop soap scraps. Measure the amount you end up wi…